Office automation systems support various office tasks. Office automation systems include tools such as:
word processing, PA1 data base systems that support the creation, maintenance, and access to data bases large and small, PA1 mail systems to facilitate communication both locally and across great distances, PA1 calendar management to assist individuals and groups coordinate and keep track of their schedules. PA1 Integrate the use of images in an environment of office automation tools. PA1 Make image access independent of the type of device on which the image is stored. PA1 Utilize for image transfer the range of different data communications paths that exist in an office automation environment. PA1 Minimize data base records that need to be changed as a result of some type of reconfiguration (e.g., when a platter is loaded in a different slot in a juke box). PA1 Permit an image document to be extended (or otherwise modified) after it has been initially created. PA1 Permit one to develop a new image manipulating application without the application developer needing to be concerned with the mechanics of image manipulation.
Great effort has been expended to capture the content of documents in a "machine readable" form such as a form suitable for data base access or manipulation by a word processor. Many offices have an enormous volume of existing documents in files that are not readily converted to machine readable form. Further, there are many office environments that have a continuing stream of paperwork which is not now (nor likely to be in the near future) readily subject to being captured in machine readable form.
This critical, but not readily convertible, mass of paperwork poses an often insurmountable obstacle to exploiting the use of computer and data communications technologies. the benefit of such technologies is often completely lost even though portions of an office's business are amenable to machine manipulation. This is because it can be inefficient to use a computer-based system when a paper-based system must also be maintained in parallel.
The ability to manipulate document images can often substitute for the manipulation of the original paper documents. This permits the movement of documents by electronic data communications and permits the use of computer-based retrieval. In addition, with electronic document images, a plurality of people can view a single document simultaneously, and the movement of documents can be electronically automated.
However, the substitution of images for paper may not solve the problem, because the image-based world that replaces the paper-based world remains separate from the world of the existing office automation functions. It is desirable to have a single set of office automation tools that are used to handle all an office's documents. Thus, unless image manipulation is integrated into the existing office automation applications, the office worker continues to have the problem of dealing with two separate sets of document processing tools.
A further impediment to the effective use in typical office environments of document images is image storage. Image storage systems are complex and diverse in characteristics. The desirability of using existing microfilm and existing filming equipment suggests the use of automatic microfilm storage and retrieval units (known as SARs). The desirability of rapid retrieval and of digital storage suggest the use of optical disks. The need to modify images suggests the use of magnetic disks. The process of locating and retrieving an image from a SAR differs radically from the process of locating and retrieving an image from a magnetic disk.
Various products have been developed to automate the retrieval of images, for example, the Kodak Image Management System (KIMS), which is based on microfilm. These are specialized systems that do not provide other office automation functions.
Recently, numerous optical disk products for image storage have been introduced, the best example of which is a system developed by Filenet Corporation. These systems provide more office automation tools than do the specialized image management systems. However, they still do not adequately integrate the use of images with these tools. Further, these systems use a single type of bulk image storage (optical disks); many large users need the flexibility to be able to incorporate other types of bulk image storage (such as microfilm and microfiche) into a single system.
The following are objects of the present invention: